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Thursday, 12 July 2012

Pre-Holiday Checklist

Holidays are a lot of hard work! To facilitate that week in the sun takes a whole lot of preparation, organisation and stress! Co-ordinating the continuing needs of everyday life alongside the things that need to be done before you go on holiday is nothing short of a military operation. I am a big list maker and I delegate fool-proof lists filled with jobs to my husband. Somehow we muddle through and manage to get ourselves and our four children, who are joining us on holiday, to our destination having left our house ready for our return.

Here is my checklist for my top ten pre-holiday jobs:

1: Get up to date with the laundry and then make everyone wear the same final outfit for the last three days before the holiday! Dirtying out those clothes means minimum dirty washing left at home...because you know that you'll be bringing home two suitcases full of clothes that will need to be laundered!

2: Use up all the perishable food in your house. The week before holidays is the time for creating inventive concoctions made from all the fresh food that is left in your kitchen. Wasting it is not an option for me, so it's a time for getting creative. No one wants to return home from their holidays to find a sack of festering potatoes or a fridge full of slimy salad...so use it up!

3: Empty and clean all the bins. Returning home to a stench filled house because of some unmentionable object lurking in an unemptied bin is not a nice welcome home!

4: Set up your Sky Planner with all those TV shows you are going to miss. Yes I know this is shallow, but if I forget to set up The Bachelor (with Spencer from Made in Chelsea) to record, I will actually cry.

5: Get your pets to have their own holiday with the neighbours! Spinky the hamster loves a change of scenery and enjoys the being spoiled for a week by a family who still see her as a novelty when we are away.

7: Make a list of things to take. With the uncertainty of the current weather system in Europe this means remembering wellies, waterproofs, sunblock and sunglasses to cover all eventualities. Writing lists will mean you won't forget something essential. Travel Sickness Tablets and Sea bands are top of my 'Do Not Forget' list!!

8: Tell the neighbours you are away so they can keep an eye on things for you. Make sure they have your contact details. A bit of peace of mind is priceless.

9: Take a rucksack full of favourite toys, comics and snacks to placate toddlers who do not relish the prospect of travelling for hours and have no concept of the delayed gratification of getting to somewhere nice at the other end. Buy some new and exciting bits and bobs in the hope that they will distract said toddler for at least a few hours before the onset of a tantrum!

10: Prepare for your arrival home before you leave....make the beds, clean the loos and make everything tidy. Make sure you have a bottle of Cravendale in the fridge that will last unopened for a few weeks and a loaf of bread in the freezer so that whatever time you get back you can have a cup of coffee and a slice of toast to tide you over!

7 comments:

It can become a nightmare prior to a holiday - making sure that eveything is sorted regarding perishable goods, ensuring that the washing is up-to-date and, like your blog suggests, quite a few other necessities that have to be taken care of. I do hope you all have an amazing holiday and that the weather is kind to you. xxxxx

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I consider myself very blessed. I am happily married to my childhood sweetheart ... although the path to now has not been exactly linear! I have five amazing children,born in each of the reproductive decades of my life...my teens, 20's, 30's and 40's! I'm fortunate enough to be a stay at home mum and this stay at home status means I'm on hand 24/7 for all the dramas that befall the the clan. My eldest son who is thriving in the workplace and is a daddy to Ted and Callie (making me a proud Grandma!); my eldest daughter who is embarking on amazing new adventures in both her work life and personal life; my guitar playing university student daughter; my punk rock loving teenager and my wonderfully quirky little school boy provide plenty of entertainment to keep me busy. Combine that with my gadget obsessed, vinyl loving husband, and you have life "Inside the Wendy House!"